CPEC and Pakistan: Its Economic Benefits, Energy Security and Regional Trade and Economic Integration

Pakistan’s geo-strategic location provides Beijing alternate routes for oil and gas supplies from the access to the energy-rich Persian Gulf region. In April 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan and announced a US $ 46 billion commitment to build a multifaceted network called the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (the value of CPEC projects is worth the US $ 87 billion as of 2020). CPEC project is the flagship of the One Belt, One Road initiative since it is a trunk passageway connecting the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north with the twenty-first century Maritime Silk Road in the south. CPEC is expected to further strengthen trade and economic cooperation in regional states. When the corridor is constructed, it will serve as a primary gateway for trade between China and the Middle East and Africa. This study revealed that CPEC has important impacts on the regional state’s trade and energy security. It will create economic security for Pakistan more as compared to the energy and other issues.